Didn't have it before but here is the video link of my showjumping from Aston le Walls....
Monday was quiet at work as it was a bank holiday but had a great lesson teaching Jess who's been working on her canter. She has struggled for a while keeping her bottom in the saddle in the canter and leaning to far back and this was the first time I had even given her a lesson. We popped on a neck strap and I had her trotting around the arena in XC position with the fingers tucked in to the neck strap before going up to canter. This helped because as she had previously been so focussed on trying to stay in the saddle in canter she wasn't able to canter for long enough to really get the feel of the canter. After a few circuits she was starting to get the feel of the motion of canter and slowly we worked on her lowering her bottom in to the saddle whilst keeping a forward upper body position. Gradually, without loosing her relaxation, she slowely brought her shoulders more upright and before you knew it - TA DA!!! She was sitting the canter perfectly without bouncing or leaning to far back. The grin on Jess's face said it all!
Tuesday I practised my dressage tests with Guinness in the morning and in the afternoon I taught Sophie and Grace how to ride a related distance on a dog leg. Sophie particularly struggles to control her pony Em's drift through her right shoulder and this exercise proved particularly difficult for them at first. Em really loves her jump and once Sophie had the hang of speed and shoulder control, they where flying through like pro's!
Wednesday I went to Windmill Farm Dressage in Chalfont st Giles for my first affiliated Elementary test. I swapped to the training section at the last minute, as I didn't want to get any points which would put me out of the Novice Chiltern & Thames Championship I've qualified for later in the year. Guinness was an absolute star in every way! He loaded, travelled and chilled at the venue like a seasoned competitor. We didn't over do the warm up and E45 went smoothly with no major mistakes. E59 was our second test and is probably the hardest of all the elementary tests. Guinness tried his heart out and although we didn't have our maximum power in the mediums or the 10m half circles it was clean and accurate. I was pleased with 62.41% and 61.56% respectively. It was also a lovely surprise that my parents, who are over in England for a holiday (they live in the south of France) were able to come by to watch my first test. They haven't seen me ride Guinness since they emigrated in 2013, and they were over the mood with our preformance and especially Guinness transformation in behavior!
Little snippet from my first test
In the evening I taught 10 year old Kaitlin Rose at Moorwards. Kaitlin rides well beyond her years and is totally besotted with horses and riding. She also loves her flatwork and is always a pleasure to teach. This week I taught her how to ride a 'change of leg through trot' in the canter. Dinky was on fire and loves an opportunity to show off her capability and together they progressed to really nail the movement with accuracy and impulsion without loosing the control!
Thursday was very busy at Moorwards with back to back lessons from 1:30 until 7pm! Gilda and her own horse Seren who regularly come to Moorwards for training made great progress and Seren is getting stronger and stronger as his lateral suppleness improves. Gilda even managed her first leg yield across the diagonal! Great work!
Friday was a day of teaching and catching up on jobs. Anna and 'Will' are such a pleasure to teach as Anna is so aware of her own body and has a really great feel. Will's suppleness has greatly improved with the lateral work we've been doing over the last few months and this really showed in his paces today. We worked on collecting and extending the walk with Anna using her core instead of her leg and when we moved up to trot his increased strength really showed with the engagement of his inside hind on 15m circles. I couldn't resist a little sit on at the end and Will and I demonstrated some beautiful collected and extended trot work again focussing on using my core instead of my legs. Such a super boy!
Peroni is doing well after his little operation and his nose looks great. He's almost got a covering on his ribs now finally (and a little belly too!) and I'm keeping my fingers crossed we can keep the weight on him this winter with all the grass and some warm rugs.
On a personal note, my little boy had his first day at secondary school this week. I still can't get my head around it! He's so grown up and he had a fabulous day and made lots of new friends. He's very bright but this often leads to him losing interest in class so I'm really hoping his new school will keep him challenged enough that he can stay engaged in his lesson. I'm one very proud Mummy! x
On Sunday I'm back off to France for a week to help take care of my Nanny whilst my parents are away so an easy week ahead for Guinness and more riding for me across the beautiful French countyside....
No comments:
Post a Comment